The July 31 General Convention News issue of The Living Church is available online to registered subscribers, and there’s a lot of news to report.
Our cover story is on Julia Ayala Harris, the newly elected president of the House of Deputies, and the second-ranking executive of the church. Kirk Petersen reports that Ayala Harris, a 41-year-old Latina with an Indigenous female priest for a vice president, is shattering stereotypes and eager to lead.
Mark Michael takes a deep dive into the Baltimore convention’s tentative steps toward prayer book revision, and summarizes the House of Bishops’ debate on topics including abortion, democracy, and Indigenous communities.
Host Bishop Eugene Sutton gave a powerful sermon about the historical racial sins of the Episcopal Church, and Neva Rae Fox describes that and other daily worship services. Kirk reports on a hastily arranged bishops’ march to mourn for a nearby gun death on the eve of convention, and explains how a layer of bureaucracy has been removed from the budget process.
Internationally, Jesse Masai checks in from Kenya, where Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit warns of violence in the streets as the country prepares for an August 9 presidential election. Neva Rae, along with Richard J. Mammana Jr., report on the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Nippon Sei Ko Kai, Japan’s Anglican Church. Emilie Teresa Smith addresses violence and environmental degradation in the highlands of Guatamala.
As if the 80th General Convention were not enough activity for one summer, bishops around the world are preparing for the 15th Lambeth Conference in Canterbury. Neva Rae has samples of hope from the bishops, and Weston Curnow traces the history of pilgrimages to the seat of Anglicanism.
In continuation of a series of excerpts from When Churches in Communion Disagree from Living Church Books, Christopher Wells and Pierre Whalon explore Anglican synodality — the aspirational goal of discernment and collaboration among the provinces of the Anglican Communion. An accompanying editorial identifies signs of synodality at the General Convention, and approves.
All this plus more news, book reviews, and Sunday’s Readings, from an independent voice serving the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion since 1878. Consider subscribing today.
NEWS
- Diverse New Leaders for the Deputies
By Kirk Petersen - Convention Charts Prayer Book’s Future
By Mark Michael - In Finding Their Voice, Bishops Seek More Nuance
By Mark Michael - Kenyan Archbishop Calls for Repentance,
Fearing Election Violence
By Jesse Masai
FEATURES
- Bishops Have Varying Hopes for Lambeth
By Neva Rae Fox - On Foot to Canterbury!
By Weston Curnow - Turning Away from Judas’s Silver
By Emilie Teresa Smith
COMMON COUNSEL
- School ofAnglican Synodality
By Christopher Wells and Pierre Whalon
EDITORIAL
- General Convention 2022: Signs of Synodical Grace
BOOKS
- Collected Poems by Rowan Williams
Review by Phoebe Pettingell - The Global Politics of Jesus
Review by Andrew S. Gilmour
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
- Sunday’s Readings
